3 Ways to Win the Culture Super Bowl

Even if you’re not a football fan, you watch the Super Bowl for the commercials or to see the halftime performance, right?

Most of the hype before the Super Bowl focuses on a few star players, usually a quarterback. I find it interesting that many of these stars talk about the team more than themselves. When asked a key to success, they say something like, “Our offensive line is the best in the league” or “Our receivers run their routes so well.” Most of them say, “We have a great game plan. We prepare and play to win.”

Such responses reveal a great deal about the culture of the team. Sure, we see their on-the-field culture, but culture starts by coaches watching film to evaluate how the team executes and how the opposition plays. It continues in practice as they train and prepare plays and in the locker room the day of the big game.

A winning culture is far more than what happens for four quarters in the game.

A winning culture prepares and plays to win.

How do your company’s teams prepare and play to win? What practices support a winning culture?

Here are 3 Ways to Win the Culture Super Bowl at work:

Prepare and Play: Core Values

If you wait to choose your core values until the pressure of work is breathing down your neck like a blitzing linebacker, you’ll get sacked for a loss every time.

What are your guiding principles at work? If you prepare to be honest, and act with integrity, and value your customer relationships, when the heat of work goes up, you play to win. You act out of your core values which you’ve chosen ahead of time, in practicing moments of quiet each morning. You don’t have to think. You play your core value culture game to win.

Prepare and Play: Priorities

Many teams play an offense in which the quarterback looks for certain reactions from the defense and implements the play with the greatest probability of success, all in a matter of seconds. He prepared by studying opponents’ game films and sets his priorities for what to try first based on his observations.

What are your priority plays at work? You have a myriad of options daily for how you can work. Your preparation—product development, market assessment, customer feedback, client relationships, etc.—sets your priorities. You know your first and best option, second and better choice, etc. for achieving your work culture goals daily. You simply execute the plays.

Prepare and Play: Unique Contribution

Many of today’s winning teams feature multi-purpose QBs who can run and throw. Yet he can’t block for himself. Or, kick field goals. Or, play cornerback. He understands and prepares to fulfill his role on the team.

Some teams’ quarterbacks are more one-dimensional, i.e., he hands off and passes. Yet the accuracy of his passes depends on his offensive line giving him enough time to find an open receiver. Whether or not his passes are completed rests in the hands of those receivers.

You have a role to play on your team. If you could do it all alone, why would you be on a team? Perhaps you can do anything, but not everything…at least not all at once.

What is your unique contribution on the team? Prepare to play your unique position to the best of your ability. Avoid wondering where to line up with your team members on each play. Go to your role and make your unique contribution.

Prepare and play to win out of your core values expressed in your priorities while making your unique contribution. And watch as you and your team win the culture Super Bowl!